Tree with mistletoe, Tidewater Virginia (photo by Kate St. John)
24 December 2021
This weekend we’re in Tidewater Virginia where the trees are bare but not empty. Many hold green balls of American mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum), a hemi-parasitic plant that extracts water and nutrients from tree branches while it also photosynthesizes.
Mistletoe in tree, Tidewater Virginia (photo by Kate St. John)
At this time of year it sports sprays of white berries that are toxic to humans but good for birds.
Though now a symbol of deserts everywhere, this unusual “tree” is native only to the Sonoran desert of Arizona, California and northwestern Mexico.
Saguaro (pronounced “sah-WAH-ro“) grows to 50 feet in height; its tremendous weight, up to nine tons, is supported by a skeleton of about two dozen spongy, wooden rods. Accordion pleats [expand and] contract as they gain and lose moisture. White flowers open after nightfall and close by late afternoon the following day. Saguaro has fleshy red fruit. Giant, leafless, columnar tree cactus with massive, spiny trunk and usually 2-10 stout, nearly erect, spiny branches.
Birds, animals and humans make use of this cactus.
Native Americans made use of the entire cactus. … Gila woodpeckers and gilded flickers make round holes near the tops of branches for nests that are used afterwards by elf owls, cactus wrens, and other birds. Wildlife, especially white-winged doves, consume quantities of the seeds.
Hornbeam seeds with spider/insect cocoons, 21 Nov 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
27 November 2021
Nature was busy this week. Spiders or insects wove tiny white cocoons inside this hornbeam seed structure. Chickadees look for these cocoons and eat the tasty treats inside.
As predicted, Schenley Park’s gingkos lost all their leaves in a single day — 20 November.
Gingkos shed all their leaves on Schenley Drive, 20 Nov 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Norway maples were not far behind on the 24th.
Three trees on 24 Nov 2021: 1 bare, 2 maple fallen leaves, 3 red oak leaves waiting (photo by Kate St. John)
I went to Schenley Park golf course to find a merlin just before sunset on 23 November. Instead I found three merlins jostling for the highest perch on the highest hill. The tallest snag in this photo is not the highest perch but the dot on top is merlin #2 of 3 who is watching the airshow as 2,500 crows fly over from the Allegheny Valley to where? Crows were still passing overhead when I left.
After sunset the sky still glowed.
Cathedral of Learning, Heinz Chapel, and WQED’s transmission tower after sunset 23 Nov 2021, Pittsburgh, PA (photo by Kate St. John)
Japanese barberry in October (photo by Kate St. John)
17 November 2021
If you’ve ever tangled with Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) you know this thorny plant has pretty berries but grows quickly into an impenetrable hedge. Imported for landscaping in the late 1800s, it has gone wild in the state and invaded the woods. Deer refuse to eat it. Despite its invasive attributes it was still sold for landscaping in Pennsylvania until now.
Last month the PA Department of Agriculture added Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) to the state’s list of noxious weeds. As of 8 October 2021 it cannot be legally sold or cultivated in the state though you may see it in nurseries while enforcement is phased in over the next two years. In the meantime, you should not be offered Japanese barberry as a landscaping choice; don’t buy it.
By fall 2023 Japanese barberry should be a thing of the past in the landscaping world but it is rampant in the woods and already may be in your yard. Cultivars were bred for colorful leaves from yellow-green to red to purple.
It is hypothesized that spread of barberry is correlated with the spread of Lyme disease. Tick numbers are higher in areas with thick barberry understories, as opposed to areas with controlled barberry or no barberry. In one study, 280 ± 51 adult black-legged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, were found per hectare in a barberry infected area, while only 30 ± 10 adult black-legged ticks were found per hectare in otherwise similar area with no barberry present.
Do you have Japanese barberry in your yard? Did you get Lyme disease in your garden? After I took the photo at top I found a tick on my pants. Beware!
This 2016 video from Minnesota shows how to recognize Japanese barberry in the wild and then describes how they’ve tried to eradicate it in Minnesota. Flames!
Thankfully Pennsylvania will no longer add new barberry to the landscape. Invasive Japanese barberry is banned at last.
(photos by Kate St. John and from Wikimedia Commons, see the captions)
Amaranth in an unusual spot at Phipps Conservatory, 30 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Colorful leaves at Schenley Park, 30 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
On 4 November the leaves glowed yellow as the sun gained altitude at Frick. When the sun melted the frost, leaves quickly loosened and dropped from the trees.
Sun through golden trees on a frosty morning at Frick Park, 4 Nov 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
On Saturday morning at Yellow Creek State Park the frost was beautiful, ephemeral and cold. Hoarfrost decorated the weeds in the parking lot.
Hoarfrost on a grassy weed, Yellow Creek State Park, 6 Nov 2021, 9:39am (photo by Kate St. John) Hoarfrost at Yellow Creek State Park, 6 Nov 2021, 9:39am (photo by Kate St. John)
Frost remained in a tree’s shadow but not for long.
Frost in the shadow, Yellow Creek State Park, 6 Nov 2021, 9:49am (photo by Kate St. John)
Last week I re-learned how to dress for winter. This week will be warm with highs in the 60s, lows in the 40s, temperature inversions and bad air in Pittsburgh.
Roger Day captured these views of the Mon Valley yesterday morning, 7 November, from Frick Park’s Riverview overlook. The Allegheny County Health Department has issued an air pollution warning and the state DEP has issued a Code Orange warning. Read more here.
Edgar Thompson Works in Braddock pouring smoke, seen through smog at Frick Park, morning of 7 Nov 2021 (photo by Roger Day) Inversion: Edgar Thompson Works in the distance, Frick Park, morning of 7 Nov 2021 (photo by Roger Day) Inversion: Kennywood seen through smog from Frick Park, morning of 7 Nov 2021 (photo by Roger Day)
Barrel cactus with fruit, Reach 11 Recreation Area, Phoenix AZ, 24 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
1 November 2021
Most intriguing on my daily walks last week in Phoenix were the barrel-shaped yellow fruits atop fishhook barrel cactus (Ferocactus wislizeni). I missed the flowering (click here to see) but the fruits may persist for more than a year after the flowers fade into dried brown tufts on top of the fruits.
A closer look shows a few seeds remaining where each fruit broke off.
Seeds underneath barrel cactus fruit, Reach 11 Recreation Area, Phoenix AZ, 24 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
There were no fruits on the ground near this specimen at Reach 11 Recreation Area, probably because the park has so many javelinas. I saw the footprints of these peccaries (not pigs) but didn’t see any of the animals. Here’s what one looks like in a photo from Wikimedia Commons.
Javelinas and squirrels eat the lemony-flavored fruits and some websites say we can eat them too, but sparingly. The fruit is mucilaginous like okra. The cactus contains oxalic acid, a poison that causes nausea and diarrhea in low doses and death in high doses …
… which might explain the other evidence left behind by the javelinas. Were the javelinas sick to their stomachs?
“That meal was great,” said the javelinas, “but I feel a little whuugh.”
Some things are naturally black and orange like Halloween, often because they are poisonous. This is especially true for milkweed bugs (above) and monarch butterflies (below). The colors say “Notice me and stay away.”
Monarch butterfly on swamp milkweed, July 2014 (photo by Steve Gosser)
Red admiral butterflies are orange-red and dark brown, almost black. Their host plant is nettle. Are they poisonous?
Red admiral, Germany (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Jack-o-lantern mushrooms in Schenley Park, 25 Sep 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Pumpkins are native to Central America while goats are native to southwest Asia and eastern Europe. Here the domesticated versions meet up. The goats win.
American snout butterfly on desert broom, Box Bar Recreation Area, Arizona, 23 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
30 October 2021
While visiting Arizona I noticed that one plant in particular attracted lots of butterflies. The plant above was covered in snouts (Libytheana carinenta) though only one shows up in my photo.
Eventually I learned that the plant is desert broom (Baccharis sarothroides), a dioecious shrub with very different male and female flowers (male on left, female on right below). The male flowers get all the attention from butterflies.
Male and female flowers on desert broom, Box Bar Recreation Area, Tonto National Forest, 23 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
It’s hard to imagine how the female flowers become pollinated when nothing seems to visit them.
Next month after the flowers are fertilized the seeds will be ready to disperse. I’m sorry I’ll miss the period when the brooms look fluffy.
Turtleheads at Westinghouse Memorial, Schenley Park, 4 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
9 October 2021
White turtleheads (Chelone glabra) are widely distributed in eastern North America while pink ones (Chelone lyoni) have a narrow range in the Blue Ridge Mountains. These showy flowers were planted at the Westinghouse Memorial in Schenley Park.
Arrow-leaved tearthumb (Persicaria sagittata) has very tiny white flowers enclosed in a pink bud. I used to think the flowers were pink until I examined this one.
Arrow-head leaved tearthumb, Moraine State Park, 6 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Purple passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) is so fancy that it must be tropical, right? Actually, it’s native to the southern U.S. This vine was blooming on 3 October on Phipps Conservatory’s garden fence. Wow!
Passion flower blooming along the fence at Phipps Conservatory, Schenley Park, 3 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Did you know these asters close at night? I didn’t until I saw them opening in after dawn on Friday.
Asters opening when morning light reaches them, Schenley Park, 8 October 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
And here’s a curiosity that looks like a pinecone, but it’s not. Willow pinecone galls are made by the willow to protect itself from an insect. Inside each gall is the larva of a midge whose mother laid eggs at the tip of the branch. The larva will overwinter here and emerge as an adult in the spring … unless a bird hammers the gall and eats the insect.
Willow pinecone galls, Moraine State Park, 6 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
